Saturday, August 4, 2012

Markathon August 2012 Edition



Dear Readers,

It was loud, it was defiant; above all it was gloriously, tumultuously, spine-tinglingly British. Ninety minutes of dazzling theatre, dance, film and music; a mash-up of cultural history delivered at breakneck speed, Danny Boyle's opening ceremony which set off the 2012 London Olympics was a profoundly breathtaking spectacle. The Indian contingent - around 40 athletes and 11 officials in all - marched into the stadium with the men in yellow Rajasthani turbans, blue blazers and white trousers and the women in yellow sarees and blue blazers. We sure hope India shines this year at the London Olympics.

With a streak of 6 Olympic gold medals, the Indian men’s Hockey team remained unbeaten from 1928 to 1956. And with a total of 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals, Indian men's field hockey team is the most successful field hockey team in Olympic history. Today, its dismal state in India is as true a fact that it is the national sport of India. If we take to look at the reason for this, we can go on to list various pitfalls. We may even say that Hockey, as a sport, has been unfortunate because of various organizational and performance issues. But what if we say that problem lies in marketing of Indian Hockey? Our cover story this time focuses on this very issue and tries to address the shortcomings of Indian hockey, marketing style.

To quote Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith from the ‘A Team’, “I love it when a plan comes together.” We would like to believe that Google is celebrating Markathon by displaying a very aptly themed doodle today, the day we release our magazine.

For our corporate Vartalaap we have with us Shri. V. Satyanarayana Reddy, the Chief Executive Officer of Chennai Division of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd. Having joined Apollo in 1989, Shri. Reddy has a rich experience on over 23 years. He shares with us his valuable experience and the growth story of Apollo and the healthcare industry in India.

We have another interesting personality for our academic Vartalaap, who became famous for using conjoint anlaysis for predicting job offers which students at the B-school would take up. Professor V. Srinivasan, the Adams Distinguished Professor of Management, Emeritus at the Stanford Business School, shares with us the finer nuances of conjoint analysis and market research.

As always, we will try to improvise and ascertain that together we will learn and together we will grow. Do send in your feedback/suggestions to markathon.iims@gmail.com

What are you waiting for? Enjoy yet another incredible journey that we bring to you through this issue.

Happy Reading!
Team Markathon